Ukraine crisis: US journalist Brent Renaud killed while reporting near Kyiv, say officials
Another journalist from the United States and an Ukrainian citizen were injured in the firing.
A journalist from the United States was killed on Sunday while reporting from a town near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, The New York Times reported.
The journalist, 50-year-old Brent Renaud, was killed after Russian forces opened fire, CBS News quoted the chief of Kyiv’s regional police force Andriy Nebytov as saying. The firing took place in the town of Irpin near Kyiv.
Another journalist from the United States and an Ukrainian citizen were injured in the firing, according to AFP.
Nebytov on Sunday released photos of Renaud’s passport and media credentials issued by The New York Times on Facebook.
The New York Times’ Deputy Managing Editor Cliff Levy said that Renaud was not on assignment for any desk at the newspaper Ukraine. Levy, however, said that Renaud had contributed to the newspaper in the past, most recently in 2015.
“We are deeply saddened to hear of Brent Renaud’s death,” Levy said. “Brent was a talented photographer and filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Times over the years.”
Renaud had worked with several other United States-based news and media organisations, including NBC and HBO.
Renaud, along with his brother Craig, have reported from several conflict zones, including Iraq and Afghanistan. They had won a Peabody Award (for achievement in the electronic media) for a documentary about a Chicago school for students with severe emotion distress. The documentary had been aired by Vice News.
Ann Mary Lipinksy, the curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at the Harvard University, said that Renaud was “gifted and kind”, and that his work was infused with humanity.
Renaud was among fellows of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University in 2019.